Simple techniques for audience and media attention

President Obama is a master at gaining media attention. One of the favorite techniques used by his administration is called newsjacking.

While “newsjacking” sounds ominous, it’s really a simple, free technique that focuses on making your message relevant to what’s important to your target audience right now.

So, what exactly is newsjacking? It’s using the keywords in breaking news stories and trending topics on Twitter to develop your message and social media posts.

For example, on the day I wrote this tip, #10ThingsILove was trending on Twitter. It is easy to incorporate that hashtag into tweets about your organization, products, or services. Here’s an example how we use the newsjacking concept on Twitter:

By incorporating the trending topic in our tweet and including a link to our website, we greatly expanded the audience of those who would see our tweets and increased traffic to our website.

Newsjacking isn’t limited to Twitter. You can also use the technique on Facebook and LinkedIn. Simply create a link to share a landing page, blog post or even your Facebook business page.

Use the keywords in the breaking news story in your message. If it makes long-term sense, consider changing your landing pages to contain these keywords. Use video and other visuals for maximum effect.

Think of newsjacking as an easy way to take advantage of real-time promotion opportunities.

Here’s a great video explanation of newsjacking from Marketing pro David Meerman Scott. Watch the video to see a classic example of how President Obama uses newsjacking to turn the world’s attention to him. Then think about ways you, too, can take advantage of newsjacking to promote your association, small business or nonprofit organization.

Marketing can be tricky. How do you bring in new customers, keep old customers coming back, and keep your strategies fresh and exciting? Reciprocate has an idea! Use holidays to offer discounts, hold contests, and start conversations.

Here are some examples:

May 6 is World Laughter Day. You can use this day in many different ways. Send a joke at the end of every purchase or hold a contest encouraging customers to submit their favorite knock-knock jokes.

Too funny? Try Endangered Species Day on May 21. Strike up a conversation with your clients about their favorite endangered animal. Or, if you’re into raising money, offer 5% of the purchase price to be donated to help save endangered species.

Too wild? Get bendy with Paper Clip Day on May 29. Encourage customers to submit pictures of paper clip figures they have created. Hold a contest and offer the customer with the most votes a discount.

Month Long Celebrations

Clean Air Month

Family Wellness Month

National Hamburger Month

Revise Your Work Schedule Month

Holiday Weeks

International Update Your References Week (May 1-7)

National Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week (May 6-12)

Reading is Fun Week (May 13-19)

Recreational Water Illness and Injury Prevention Week (May 21-27)

Daily Holidays

1 – World Asthma Day

2 – National Truffle Day

3 – National Two Different Colored Shoes Day

4 – International Firefighters’ Day

5 – Cinco De Mayo

6 – World Laughter Day

7 – Accounting Day

8 – No Socks Day

9 – National Receptionist Day

10 – World Lupus Day

11 – Minnesota Statehood (1858)

12 – National Miniature Golf Day

13 – Mother’s Day

14 – National Dance like a Chicken Day

15 – National Chocolate Chip Day

16 – National Sea Monkey Day

17 – World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

18 – International Virtual Assistants Day

19 – Armed Forces Day

20 – Weights and Measures Day

21 – Endangered Species Day

22 – Buy a Musical Instrument Day

23 – World Turtle Day

24 – International Tiara Day

25 – National Tap Dance Day

26 – Julia Pierpont Day

27 – Golden Gate Bridge Opened (1937)

28 – Memorial Day

29 – Paper Clip Day

30 – World MS Day

31 – World No Tobacco Day

Of course these are just ideas. Get creative. Have fun. And remember your audience. Happy holiday marketing!

Marketing can be a bit tricky. How can you bring in new customers, keep a fresh and positive relationship with loyal customers, and have some fun?

Reciprocate has thought about this too. What better way than to celebrate every day in a fun and unique way! We’ve got some ideas to get you started:

April 5 is National Deep Dish Pizza Day. Do your customers love pizza? Find out by starting a discussion about favorite pizza toppings. Or, poll your loyal customers a few days in advice. Then, on April 5, run a poll and have everyone vote on the best pizza topping choices. Give a discount to the loyal customer who gets the most votes!

If pizza doesn’t get your mouth watering, try taking advantage of April 13, Scrabble Day. Post some unique scrabble words on your website and challenge customers to guess the definitions without a dictionary. Or have your customers share their favorite Scrabble words.

If Scrabble Day is too wordy for you, April 19 is Get to Know Your Customers Day. Use this day to connect with your customers, offer discounts, and share a little bit about yourself.

Month-long Celebrations

Tackle Your Clutter Month

National Humor Month

National Autism Awareness Month

Holiday Weeks

National Reading a Road Map Week – (Week 1)

National Networking Week – (Week 2)

National Volunteer Week –April 15-21

Daily Holidays

1 – April Fool’s Day

2 – National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day

3 – World Party Day

4 – Paraprofessional Appreciation Day

5 – National Deep Dish Pizza Day

6 – National Walk to Work Day

7 – International Beaver Day

8 – Easter Sunday

9 – Name Your Self Day

10 – International Be Kind to Lawyers Day

11 – International “Louie Louie” Day

12 – International Day of Human Flight Day

13 – Scrabble Day

14 – International Moment of Laughter Day

15 – Take a Wild Guess Day

16 – National Healthcare Decisions Day

17 – National Cheese Ball Day

18 – Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day

19 – Get to Know Your Customers Day

20 – National DNA Day

21 – Record Store Day

22 – Earth Day

23 – Talk like Shakespeare Day

24 – Teach Children to Save Day

25 – International Guide Dogs Day

26 – Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day

27 – Arbor Day

28 – Save the Frogs Day

29 – Pinhole Photography Day

30 – National Honesty Day

While these are just a few ideas, we’re sure you have some great ones too! But if you don’t like the holidays listed, feel free to make your own! Celebrate your business’s anniversary each year by offering a discount. Whatever your ideas, use them to your advantage and start marketing your business.

You’ve mailed out discounts, offered repeat customers free services or products, and now you feel stuck. How do you reach new people and keep your current customers coming back? Relax. We have something you can try. Holidays.

You may be saying to yourself, “What? That doesn’t make sense!” But it does. Use traditional holidays or create new holidays to offer your customers coupons and discounts. Both can give customers a good ol’ laugh and you a reason to connect. The result? Customer satisfaction and business growth. Win. Win.

Here are some examples:

March 2 is National Dress in Blue Day. Give customers the ability to wear blue, snap a picture, and submit it for 5% off their next order.

The blues got you down? Try March 14 instead. Pi Day opens up the communication lines with your customers as you can share and swap pie recipes or offer “berry good deals.”

Don’t have a sweet tooth? Don’t fret! March 26 is Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. Use this to your advantage to create a holiday geared towards your industry or ask your customers what holiday they would create.

Here are some existing holidays to use as idea starters:

Month-long celebrations

Red Cross Month

Employee Spirit Month

International Ideas Month

National Frozen Food Month

Holiday Weeks

National Write a Letter of Appreciation Week (March 1-7)

Universal Women’s Week (March 8-14)

National Spring Fever Week (March 18-24)

Daily Holidays

1 – National Pig Day

2 – National Dress In Blue Day

3 – What if Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs? Day

4 – Cadbury Chocolates Birthday (debut 1824)

5 – Namesake Day

6 – Michalangelo’s Birthday (1475)

7 – National Be Heard Day

8 – Organize Your Home Office Day

9 – Panic Day

10 – First Telephone Message (Sent 1876)

11 – Daylight Savings

12 – Napping Day

13 – K-9 Veterans Day

14 – Pi Day

15 – Absolutely Incredible Kid Day

16 – Freedom of Information Day

17 – St. Patrick’s Day

18 – Awkward Moments Day

19 – Let’s Laugh Day

20 – First Day of Spring

21 – National Common Courtesy Day

22 – As Young As You Feel Day

23 – World Turtle Day

24 – National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day

25 – Pecan Day

26 – Make Up Your Own Holiday Day

27 – Quirky Country Music Song Title Day

28 – Memorial Day

29 – National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day

30 – I am in Control Day

31 – Earth Hour – 8:30 PM

The possibilities created by using holidays as a marketing theme are endless. Turn each day into your own, and keep your customers coming back for more. Come back next month for some April holidays that will have you hopping to new heights!

Business can learn a lot from chocolate

Pricing

Some customers will pay more for the prestige of owning/using your product/service (Godiva).

Some customers will buy the cheapest version available (generic chocolate-flavored baking chips) because quality just don’t matter to them, because a premium price point is higher than anticipated, or because that is what they can afford or chose to afford.

Packaging

Sometimes it’s how you package your products and services that encourages purchases. (How many colors of M&Ms can you think of? Trust me, the green ones taste just like the red ones!)

Sometimes it’s how you bundle your offerings (individual Cadbury eggs or a 3-pack). Encourage “add-on” purchases by making it easy for customers to buy more without having to think.

Creative Marketing

The Milk Chocolate Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your HandUse a tagline that will emphasizes your Unique Selling Point (USP) and is memorable.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’tKnow your audience and adapt your marketing message and product/service offerings to the media — postings appropriate for your business Facebook wall probably shouldn’t be used as LinkedIn updates

Gimme a break…Gimme a break…Break me off a piece of that…Make your brand more than just a product or service. Tell your audience how your product can transform their lives and attitudes, if only for a moment.

Marketing can be scary for some. It means planning and putting yourself and your business out there. Don’t fret! Marketing can be fun! Try this technique to bring in a few customers and a few more laughs. Unique and wacky holidays can create a marketing strategy to keep your customers coming back for more. Take these days for example:

February 4 is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Create a poll to find out what ice cream your customers like best! Or, better yet, hide an ice cream flavor somewhere on your website. Customers who find the flavor can enter it as a coupon code and save 5 percent.

If ice cream is too cold of an approach for you, turn February 12 into your own Grammy Awards Ceremony, presenting your customers with $5 off their next purchase.

If the Grammys don’t have you running down the red carpet, For Pete’s Sake Day is a great time to have customers share their favorite verbal phrases of frustration (appropriate for all ears of course!)

Here are more unique February holidays:

Month-long celebrations

Adopt a Rescued Rabbit Month

International Expect Success Month

Pull Your Sofa Off The Wall Month

Holiday Weeks

Freelance Writers Appreciation Week (Feb. 6-12)

Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 13-19)

National Entrepreneurship Week (Feb. 18-25)

Daily Holidays

1 – Change Your Password Day (declared by Gizmodo)

2 – Groundhog Day

3 – Wear Red Day

4 – Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

5 – Super Bowl XLVI

6 – Pay a Compliment Day

7 – Ballet Day

8 – Laugh and Get Rich Day

9 – Read In the Bathtub Day

10 – Umbrella Day

11 – Be Electrific Day

12 – Grammy Awards Ceremony

13 – Get a Different Name Day

14 – Valentine’s Day

15 – National Gum Drop Day

16 – Do A Grouch A Favor Day

17 – World Human Spirit Day

18 – Thumb Appreciation Day

19 – Chocolate Mint Day

20 – President’s Day

21 – Mardi Gras

22 – World Thinking Day

23 – Introduce A Girl to Engineering Day

24 – National Tortilla Chip Day

25 – International Sword Swallower’s Day

26 – For Pete’s Sake Day

27 – International Polar Bear Day

28 – Floral Design Day

29 – Leap Year Day

While we have listed some holidays to get started, feel free to create your own. Or, check out the previous calendars Reciprocate has provided. Make sure to do some quick research on your holidays though. From year to year, some holidays change dates. Regardless of your methods to marketing, creativity and a little fun can take you and your business a long way!

Marketing doesn’t have to be hard — or time consuming — and can even be fun. Here’s a simple way to use a modern twist on mythology that is guaranteed to increase sales whether you are a B2B or B2C.

Marketing Mythology

Create a mythological character, MTC (MyTypicalCustomer), based on your target market. Artist talent is not required; you can even use an online photo of an anonymous person. As you create MTC, answer these questions to help you determine what is important to MTC and why MTC is your target customer.

What does MTC look like?

Do you have several MTCs — male, female, different ages or even different education levels?

What does MTC do for a living?

Does MTC work/study in the city, suburbs, at home?

How does MTC spend his/her spare time?

Does MTC have any hobbies?

What is MTC’s family life like? Does he have kids? Aging parents?

Where does MTC live? Does he live in the city, suburbs or rural area? On a farm, in a mansion, or in an apartment?

Does MTC recycle or place high importance on green companies and products?

What pets does MTC have?

Does MTC donate to charities? Which ones?

Is MTC tech savvy? How much time does he spend on the computer each day?

Does MTC own a smartphone or mobile device? What apps does he use the most?

Is MTC active on Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter?

What problem does MTC have that your products or services can help solve?

What words does MTC use when looking for the solution to this problem?
These become the keywords you should use everywhere online — on your website, in your social media profiles and posts, and in directory listings.

Now that you have created your Mythological Marketing character, keep MTC with you. Hang MTC on your office wall. Attach MTC to your monitor. Use MTC as your screensaver or wallpaper. Throughout the day, ask yourself these questions:

wwMTCt? (What Would MyTypicalCustomer Think?)

Would MTC be moved to action by your decision or bored by your message?

Create calls to action that will inspire MTC to pick up the phone/email/purchase your product or service.

There, as easy as that, you’ve created a Marketing Myth guaranteed to increase sales. By keeping MTC top of mind when making business decisions, you will find that your business becomes more focused on your target customer and your sales will increase.

Looking for a new marketing strategy to put you ahead of your competition? Finding new ways to bring in customers can be tricky. Try out this fun marketing strategy and see what fun it brings!

Using bizarre holidays can catch the eye of your future customers. It can also keep your current customers coming back for more!

On January 4th, Trivia Day, have fun trivia questions that lead your customers through your website, hunting for answers and reward them with 10% off their next purchase.

If trivia isn’t your game, try January 14th, Dress Up Your Pet Day. Post a photo of your pet dressed up and encourage your customers to send in pictures of their pets! Don’t have a pet? No problem! Change it to January 15th and use National Hat Day as an excuse to post a picture of yourself in a wacky hat. Once again, this is another great way to get your customers involved as they can post pictures of themselves in wacky hats as well!

Don’t forget to take advantage of Get to Know Your Customers Day on January 19th!

Month-long Celebrations

International Creativity Month

International New Year’s Resolutions Month For Businesses

Holiday Weeks

Someday we’ll Laugh about This Week (Jan. 2-8)

Home Office Safety and Security Week (Jan. 8-14)

Clean Out Your Inbox Week (Jan. 23-27)

Daily Holidays

1 – New Year’s Day

2 – Tournament of Roses Parade Day

3 – Drinking Straw Day

4 – Trivia Day

5 – Elvis’ Birthday Celebration Begins

6 – Three Kings Day

7 – International Programmers’ Day

8 – Show and Tell Day at Work

9 – National Clean Off Your Desk Day

10 – National Cut Your Energy Costs Day

11 – Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day

12 – National Pharmacist Day

13 – Friday The 13th

14 – Dress up Your Pet Day

15 – National Hat Day

16 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

17 – Kid Inventors Day

18 – Winnie the Pooh Day

19 – Get to Know Your Customers Day

20 – Penguin Awareness Day

21 – National Hugging Day

22 – Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day

23 – National Pie Day

24 – National Compliment Day

25 – Macintosh Computer Day

26 – National Peanut Brittle Day

27 – Punch the Clock Day

28 – Fun at Work Day

29 – National Puzzle Day

30 – National Inane (not a typo!) Answering Message Day

31 – Inspire Your Heart with Art Day

Take these wacky holidays or even create your own! The marketing possibilities are endless. Just be creative and keep your customers wanting more!

Use unique marketing messages to attract attention to your business

Looking for creative ways to market your business? Use holidays as an excuse to celebrate and offer fun contests, discounts, and other opportunities for your customers. You may be thinking “That sounds like a great idea! But where do I start?”

Below are a few suggestions. Take these ideas. Tweak them. Make them fit your business. Most importantly, go for it!

December 4 is Wear Brown Shoes Day. Turn it into a Facebook photo contest. Encourage customers to post photos of them or their family members (or even the family dog!) wearing brown shoes. Offer a discount for entries and encourage comments from your Facebook community.

December 18 is Bake Cookies Day. Open up a forum on your website and share your favorite cookie recipes with your customers.

December 28 is Card Playing Day. Honor this day by having customer’s “draw a card” for their discount on their current or future purchase.

Here are some other “idea starter” holidays in December:

Month-long Celebrations

Safe Toys and Gifts Month

Universal Human Rights Month

Holiday weeks:

First week: National Hand Washing Awareness Week (Dec. 4-10)

Third week: You’re Doing a Good Job! Week (Dec. 18-24)

Hanukkah (Dec. 20-28)

Kwanzaa (Dec. 26- Jan. 1)

Daily Holidays

1 – World AIDS Day

2 – Special Education Day

3 – Make A Gift Day

4 – Wear Brown Shoes Day

5 – Walt Disney’s Birthday

6 – Saint Nicholas Day

7 – National Cotton Candy Day

8 – National Brownie Day

9 – Christmas Card Day

10 – Dewey Decimal System Day

11 – International Shareware Day

12 – National Poinsettia Day

13 – National Cocoa Day

14 – Monkey Day

15 – Cat Herder’s Day

16 – National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

17 – Wright Brothers Day

18 – Bake Cookies Day

19 – Oatmeal Muffin Day

20 – Hanukkah Begins

21 – National Flashlight Day

22 – National Haiku Poetry Day

23 – Roots Day

24 – Christmas Eve

25 – Christmas

26 – Kwanzaa Begins

27 – National Fruit Cake Day

28 – Card Playing Day

29 – Tick Tock Day

30 – Falling Needles Family Fest Day

31 – New Year’s Eve

Not quite sure that these holidays could work for your business? Create your own customer appreciate days or hold discount days to honor your accomplishments as a small business owner. Advertising and spreading the word help your business grow and fun holidays can help spread the word faster. Get creative and have fun!

Engaging customers at holiday time

Yes, holidays are hectic for most of us. But there are ways that you can still engage your customers and make November and December profitable months for your organization.

Below are 8 tips for attracting customer’s attention:

KISS — keep it short and social
Less is more. We’re busy. No time to read volumes.

Offer holidays specials — that are truly special
Provide incentives that make it worth the effort. If you ask me to answer a 10-question survey or enter a contest to get a $1 off coupon, I might not bother, especially in November or December.

Consider adding a countdown promotion
The 12 deals of December. What a great reason to contact your customers via email daily. Just remember tips # 1 and #2 above.

Take Tip #3 a step further and add a progressive deal
Customers must open each email to receive the next — and each deal is better than the one before. With an email provider such as Contact Contact, you can segment your mailing list based on who has opened each email.

Create a sense of urgency
We all wait ’til the last minute. Make your offer a priority.

Subject lines matter
Communicate the offer and deadline in your subject line. We’re busy. A well-written subject line may keep your message from being trashed without being opened.

Provide special offers for VIP customers
Everyone likes to be a VIP. Let them know they are your VIPs. Thank past customers with great incentives.

Partner with a worthwhile charity or organization.
Offer your customers a way they can buy from you and be philanthropic at the same time. Win-win-win

These 8 simple tips can help you stay “top of mind” with your customers even during these hectic holidays and throughout the year. We’d love to hear your ideas on how you’ve engaged customers, particularly during the holiday season.

Stumped for ways to engage your clients?

Try celebrating unique holidays with them. Here are some idea starters for November:

November 7, Hug-A-Bear Day is your opportunity to hold a photo contest of your customers hugging their bears.

Not beary interesting to you? Take on National Clean out your Refrigerator Day by asking your customers to find the most expired item in their refrigerator. Offer them 30% off an order.

But for something that isn’t so chilly and that is easy to do, have a Name your PC Day contest. Encourage customers to come up with the most creative, clever name for their PC and recognize the customer and their PC on your website.

November month long holidays

International Creative Child and Adult Month

Family Stories Month

November week long holidays

First week: World Communication Week

Second week: Pursuit of Happiness Week

November daily holidays

1 – National Author’s Day

2 – Cookie Monster’s Birthday

3 – Sandwich Day

4 – Use Your Common Sense Day

5 – FM Stereo Birthday 1933

6 – Daylight Saving Time Ends

7 – Hug-a-bear Day

8 – General Election Day

9 – National Young Readers Day

10 – Area Code Day

11 – Veteran’s Day

12 – National Pizza With The Works Except Anchovies Day

13 – Artificial Snow Birthday 1946

14 – Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day

14 – National Clean out your Refrigerator Day

15 – America Recycles Day

16 – Button Day

17 – Homemade Bread Day

18 – Mickey Mouse’s Birthday (1928)

19 – National Family Volunteer Day

20 – Name Your PC Day

21 – Tweety Bird’s Birthday

22 – Start Your Own Country Day

23 – Eat a Cranberry Day

24 – Thanksgiving Day

25 – Black Friday

26 – National Day of Listening

27 – National Bavarian Cream Pie Day

28 – National French Toast Day

29 – Electronic Greetings Day

30 – Mark Twain’s Birthday (1835)

And of course, take advantage of Black Friday!

You can also create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.

Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!

Build your business and reputation with a little creativity

Marketing your small business with creativity builds interest and gets your business recognition. So why not find a unique way to get your name out there? Fun and wacky holidays and business promotions can attract customers and help with word of mouth PR.

Confused about where to start? Take some of these October holidays and run with them.

Try October 7, National Frappe Day: ask your customers which coffee drink is the best and offer 50 cents off each purchase for them to put towards a coffee shop coffee for the day.

Not your cup of coffee? How about National Dictionary Day on October 16: have a contest to see which customer can find the wackiest word in the dictionary and send them a coupon for 10% off a later purchase.

Looking for a different type of contest? October 25th is Sourest Day. Run a photo contest with the best sour face winning a sample product. (Thanks to mlblogselisha06.wordpress.com for the great sour face photo above!)

For a more traditional holiday idea, use Halloween to your advantage. “Dress up” your prices for the day, playing your pricing scale as the “ghost of good things to come”.

You can also create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.

Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!

How to take your marketing to the next level

Tired of the same ol’ promotions? Looking to make things more exciting for you and your customers? Interested in making people excited to come check out you and your business?

Your concerns have been heard and you have come to the right place. We have a great idea for you! Holiday promotions. While this may sound like something that happens seasonally, especially around winter holidays, it can actually take place daily. Every day of the year is filled with fun and unique holidays and interesting ways for you to bring in more customers while having fun.

September 1st offers a good example of a fun way to create a promotion. Emma M. Nutt Day honors Emma, the first female telephone operator. Celebrate her success by offering a special discount for customers who call in their order. And, if that doesn’t seem like the right fit for your company, try September 10. On Swap Ideas Day, get online and talk with your customers. Offer advice in return for some advice from them. Still not unique enough for you? September 30th, Chewing Gum Day, offers up a great photo contest. Have customers submit photos of them blowing bubbles with chewing gum. Give the biggest, best bubble a discount!

You can also create your own holiday to match the needs of your business. Celebrate it yearly, make it fun and get creative. Creating holidays to celebrate your business’s milestones and successes is another good way to draw attention to what you have accomplished.

Whatever unique holidays you find on the calendar, or whatever holidays you choose to create, make sure they are fun and exciting! They are a great marketing tactic to get customers to notice you and spread the word!